Mufi's Message 8.16.19

​Pro Sports in Hawaii

The Los Angeles Cheerleaders held a cheer clinic at 'Iolani School for Hawai'i youth cheerleaders on June 15th. Seated in the second row are HLTA President and CEO Mufi Hanneman and Hawaii Tourism Authority President and CEO Chris Tatum.

Mufi is pictured above speaking to a group of high school football players from around the state who participated in a skills clinic that was hosted by the L.A. Rams organization.

​Aloha sports fans! Since we are heavily involved in working with HTA on the community engagement aspect of these activities, I wanted to give you a quick update. 

We are just two days away from the return of the NFL to O‘ahu when the Los Angeles Rams and the Dallas Cowboys will meet in a preseason game at Aloha Stadium. Over the past week, the Rams have been busy hosting numerous engagement activities including visits to Marine Corps Base Hawaii and Schofield Barracks, a Fan Rally at the Rams’ pop-up location at the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center, and multiple football clinics for boys and girls of all ages. The Rams cheerleaders have also been busy this week putting on fitness workshops and a Yoga in the Park session at Ward Village. HLTA staff has been coordinating the one Rams practice that is open to the public on Friday by ensuring that our youth have an opportunity to see them at Cooke Field. It  has been overwhelmingly positive to see how the Rams have worked to connect with our community.

Click here to read Ferd Lewis' article about the upcoming game.

While the Rams-Cowboys game has received much fanfare and hype, I would also like to alert you to another professional sports organization that will soon be in Hawaii. The Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP), and its nonprofit youth programming arm, AVPFirst, have partnered with the HTA to offer 17 beach volleyball clinics. These are to be held from August 19 through September 22 on O‘ahu, Maui, Kaua‘i, Hawai‘i Island, Moloka‘i, and Lana‘i. We have been helping to schedule these clinics which will be free of charge, open to the public, and will be led by current AVP players, former Olympian and six-time AVP champion Kevin Wong, and current Outrigger Canoe Club coach, Lia Young Hunt among many more.
 
The clinics have been scheduled to coincide with the AVP Hawaii Open, the final event of the 2019 AVP season. The Open will run from September 20-22 on the Fort DeRussy beachfront. All matches will be free to watch and will offer fun for the whole family with live music, food and beverage options, and meet and greet opportunities. If you are interested in attending the one of the clinics, please visit www.bgch.com for more information

Please visit AVPFirst.org for up-to-date dates and times of clinics.

Kaua'i Check Presentations

On Tuesday, I traveled to Kaua‘i to take part in the HLTA Kaua‘i Chapter’s Check Presentation Event where monies were awarded to organizations for their participation in the Kaua‘i Chapter’s Charity Walk. This year, the Garden Isle raised a record $451,051. Kaua‘i’s fundraising totals have grown by leaps and bounds over the past few years and they are closer than ever to surpassing O‘ahu which is their friendly overarching goal! 
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Mahalo to HLTA Chapter Chair Paul Toner, the entire Kaua‘i Chapter Steering Committee, and committee co-chairs Chip Bahouth and Jacob Vogelgesang for their leadership throughout the planning and execution of this year’s Charity Walk. Special thanks are also due to Kaua’i Chapter Executive Director Morgan Lopez who has been doing a great job in all aspects of the Kaua'i HLTA operations . ​

Pictured from left are Marriott's Waiohai Beach Club General Manager Beres Wall, Mufi, and co-chairs of the HLTA Kaua'i Chapter Charity Walk Committee, Chip Bahouth and Jacob Vogelgesang.

Youth For Christ Hawaii

​As we begin to wrap up our Charity Walk events for 2019, I’ve had the chance to present checks to some of the groups that participated in this year’s walk. On Tuesday evening, I was proud to present a check for $22,500 to Youth for Christ Hawai‘i during their annual fundraising dinner at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i. This is the third year that YFC Hawai'i has taken part in our walk and, for the 3rd year in a row, they raised the most monies of any nonprofit organization and also brought out lots of volunteers. Congratulations and mahalo to YFC Hawaii for leading the charge among our nonprofit participants year after year.